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Whether or not science can be applied to that mental construct [i.e. the designed entity] is a matter of availability. If there is body of scientific knowledge that can be applied, then it would be foolish not to exploit it. However, if there is none, it does not mean that the thing cannot be designed, made, and used safely.

Henry Petroski

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Henry Petroski
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: February 6
Civil Engineer
Engineer
Brooklyn
New York
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More quotes by Henry Petroski

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Failure is Central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation.
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The bookshelf, like the book, has become an integral part of civilization as we know it, its presence in a home practically defining what it means to be civilized, educated, and refined.
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Any design, whether its for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures.
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Form follows failure.
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No one wants to learn from mistakes, but we cannot learn enough from successes to go beyond the state of the art.
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Case studies of failure should be made a part of the vocabulary of every engineer so that he or she can recall or recite them when something in a new design or design process is suggestive of what went wrong in the case study.
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Our expectations for a technology rise with its advancement.
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A failed structure provides a counterexample to a hypothesis and shows us incontrovertibly what cannot be done, while a structure that stands without incident often conceals whatever lessons or caveats it might hold for the next generation of engineers.
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The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware industry.
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Engineering, like poetry, is an attempt to approach perfection. And engineers, like poets, are seldom completely satisfied with their creations. They notice, even if no one else does, the world that is not quite le mot juste, or the hairline crack that blemishes the structure.
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